Tuesday, October 24, 2006

"Masons struggle with racial separation"

source: Yahoo! news by way of m'lady
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Masons, the storied fraternal order whose members have included Mozart, George Washington and John Wayne, has become entwined across the Deep South with the remnants of another tradition in these parts: strict segregation.

Nationwide, Masonic groups operate in a separate-but-supposedly-equal system in which whites typically join one network of Masonic groups, called Grand Lodges, and blacks typically join another, called Prince Hall.

But in the South, it goes further: White-controlled Grand Lodges in 12 Southern states do not even officially recognize black Masons as their brothers — the Masonic term is "mutual recognition" — and in some cases, black lodges have taken similar stands.
I hadn't heard about this. To me, it just validates and confirms the South's reputation as a region populated largely by civic throwback and neanderthals... and I *am* a Southerner!

I will say, though, that I've been quite disappointed with the low levels of journalistic competence and *integrity* that I've witnessed over the past couple of years. I wouldn't be TOO surprised to find that the article fails to mention that there are differences in how the Blacks and whites practice their "Masonry." That'd, potentially anyway, be a much more substantive reason for refusing to recognize each other as brothers... more substantive than skin color, anyway.

As it stands, I'm going to more or less take the article at face value.

Even though I'm not big on such fraternal orders, I find this rather sad and distasteful.

10 comments:

Luke Cage said...

Brotha West, my brother-in-law is a mason and he pointed out such tactics years ago when he went down to one of the Carolinas (forgive me, I forget which one)

As the story goes, my brother-in-law and his brother masons came across a white order of masons somewhere down there in a hall or something and the black masons were dismissed as folks just wanting to be down with something because they can never have something of their own. Always wanting to tap into theirs.

After explaining, hey we are different in skin color, but the same as fraternal order, he got insulted as being part of nothing he knew about at all. Some racial name calling and other things ensued and my brother-in-law has never looked at the mason's the same way since. He still goes to his, but I think he's been scarred by the whole thing. I'm not into these kinds of sects myself, but it can be demoralizing and downright insulting and disrespectful man. One love..

West said...

Dayum, man. Can't blame him.
I'd be scarred, too!

Anonymous said...

Even in "brotherhood" the White man and the Black man will never be equal - in any kind of way. The Whites want it like that. Why don't we (the Black race) give it to them like that?

I've always wondered this question: maybe that's the way (racially segregated) it's supposed to be in the world...

West said...

re: "The Whites want it like that."

All of'em?

Anonymous said...

Well not all of them, but the 99.999% majority of Whites in the world want it like that - don't want us Blacks to be equal with them. That's why it's been difficult all these milleniums to rid the world of racism. And to be honest, I don't want to be equal with another race of people. I want to be above and beyond another race.

Whites tolerate Blacks but only out of fear of being labeled racist if they didn't or out of fear of being hit with discrimination lawsuits, but deep inside their little White hearts, Blacks will never been "supreme" like them. I will admit, I don't particularly care for Whites myself because I know the deep-seated (seeded(?))resentment they feel towards us. And that's fine; I resent them, too, for thinking they're the only people God created and are the only ones entitled to the goodness of God's green earth.

West said...

Real question:

What's the difference between "us" making assumptions about 99.999% of "them" and "them" making assumptions about "us?"

Waddie G. said...

I know that I will offend people by saying this, but I think Masons are a joke...it's like a fraternity, but they are not known for anything in the public, especially service.

West said...

I dunno.
The article said something about Shriners being an offshoot of the Masons or something.

I may've misunderstood that, though.

Anyway, the Shriners apparently do some public good.

Miz JJ said...

I dated a dude who was a Mason. It is basically like a frat. Anybody entering the organization knows the deal and that white organizations don't really accept them. I would never join, but some black dudes feel comfortable being a part of the organization even if they are treated like second class citizens.

Art Williams said...

My father was a mason. I got the feeling it was kind of a social club thing for him. He kind of lost interest in it later in life.

Now, I have a white friend who is also a mason but he is very into the principles that is wuppossedly at the core of the organization, high moral beliefs. He is a good guy and quite honestly one of the best men I have had the privelage to be friends with.

To Cage: My family is from North Carolina and Virgina. All I have to say is the south is the south. They tend to hold onto their "traditions". Throw a mason club membership into the mix and I don't even want to meet that individual. More info: Prince Hall Freemasonry<=